PDCU

I'm interested how great power relations affect state socialization in East Asia

I'm applying to Stanford's CEAS... Their website says there are around 5-7 people working on Korea and many more on East Asia in general... Should I be scared?

I just submitted all my applications! Good luck to everyone!

I believe UPenn specifically said that those who have external funding will have higher chance of being admitted. I remember seeing something like that on their application last year.

I'm guessing you are at USC because that's the only good private institution in LA haha It doesn't matter what your undergrad degree was in as long as you show focus in your statement of purpose. However, considering some of the schools you've mentioned, it seems like you are lacking focus on your research interest. The type of schools you should be aiming for depends on your research interest.

WUSTL has people in comparative government that focuses on asymmetric and intra-state conflicts, so I think it's worth it for OP to look into individual faculty expertise.

Consider UTexas-Austin and WashU-St. Louis too!

What exactly is your research interest? It seems like your list is rather mixed. But based on the list, you should take a look at NYU, Wisconsin-Madison, and Florida State.

Dali Yang at UChicago might be of interest to you. Also check out Stanley Rosen at USC. Berkeley is known for its strength in comparative, and UW-Seattle and George Washington are worth looking into as well.

Check out Yale and NYU too.

You should email the department program coordinators at your prospective departments and ask them individually. Some schools would let you submit official report in January even with early December deadline.

Hi! Anyone still here? 1) I'm applying to MA in East Asian Studies (Korean specialization) and couple PhDs in Political Science. Plan to apply exclusively to PS after EAS. 2) I'm applying to Stanford, Harvard, and UCLA. I finished the application but need to write my SoP. 3) I lived in Korea for a while and went to college in the US studying IR. 160V 159Q in GRE and 3.85 GPA. Couple semesters in Mandarin and native Korean. Did summer research in Korea for undergrad thesis. Anyone think I have a good chance here? Stanford is my dream school...

I need some suggestions on what I should do about my GRE scores. My current Verbal is 160/83% (610-620 old), Quantitative is 159/77% (720-740 old), and Writing is 5.0/92%, and I plan on re-taking the GRE in November. Higher score would obviously be better, but how would my score fare at non-top-10 schools as it stands considering other factors are solid? I'm in an MA program right now so I don't think I'll be able to study too much in the next few weeks.

I know you said YMMV, but do PS people care more about GRE Q and V in general?

Don't most grad schools require you to specialize in two subfields? Maybe you can pick up a comparative to make yourself more... "marketable"?

The rank of your undergrad itself doesn't matter much. But since LoR plays a big role in the decision and better schools usually have better professors... I think the rank indirectly matters. And I don't think straight-to-undergrad doesn't hurt your chances. But many applicants have MA before they apply so you would be at disadvantage. One program I looked into said "although MA is not required, majority of our acceptances hold advanced degrees". I applied straight from undergrad and was summarily rejected, but I am actually glad that I wasn't accepted. My research interest was too broad and weak. Now, it's only been summer, but as I read through the MA reading list, I now have much better understanding in my own interest. I'm going to an MA program in Fall, and I think I will be much better prepared in the upcoming cycle than my last one.

From my personal experience and comments on this forum, it seems like writing a superb Statement of Purpose is not only the most important factor of a strong applicant but also is the easiest (yet most complicated) to improve.

Thanks Bdeniso! I haven't had any math/stats since high school AP Calc. I'm going to fit in basic stats and calc courses during my 1-year IR masters at Chicago. But is that enough to count as "quant-literate"? How much quant training must I have before I am seriously considered for admission if I want to do qual work? Also, English isn't my first language so my GRE V is quite lacking (159/87%). Would high TOEFL compensate (116 iBT)? Would low V affect my interest in qual negatively?

Hey everyone, I am currently in the process of researching schools, and it's been difficult for me. I am interested in more qual-heavy programs, but I can't really seem to find very much. So far, I think I have Chicago, USC, Cornell, and Berkeley. None of the schools are perfect, but all of them come very close. Chicago has Cumings and Mearsheimer, Berkeley has whole bunch of PS scholars on Korea, Cornell has Katzenstein, and USC has Kang, but considering how this process is a crapshoot, I want to apply to more schools than just 4. I heard that current trend of PoliSci is towards quant-heavy so (relatively) qual-heavy schools are rare. I want to do my research in IR and theory/comparative in Korean studies. (I gave up on my game theory dreams ) Can someone point me towards the right direction? I know it's my job to do the research, but if I can at least get the names of the schools to look into, then I can probably check out their websites and faculty and read their papers for my perfect IR/Korea guy. For example, I got mixed information on MIT where one professor called it very qual-heavy, but some others call it still very quant-heavy. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, I've been hearing stuff about "emailing POI" during the summer from various places (just grad applicants in general). It was something like asking a specific POI to take them on as students, etc. Is this a good idea for Political Science applicant? Or does PS PhD program work this way? I tried doing that last year to a few, but I was ignored across the board.

What are some of the schools that is on the other side of the quant-qual spectrum? I'm guessing Cornell and Chicago? Anywhere else? And I thought Princeton was heavy in qual and Harvard was quant. o.o

South Korea in the early 1990s with Asian Financial Crisis and all that

Congrats CairoKid!

@midwest: I've had really watered-down version of game theory as part of my terrorism class in my undergrad. So I guess you can say that I think game theory is really cool and I want to do it, but I just don't know how. I think I made my decision! The suggestions I got from everyone I talked to were unanimous in favor of Chicago. Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions!

Hi everyone, I am trying to decide between Columbia's QMSS and Chicago's CIR. I want to do my PhD research in game modeling of power difference in IR. Both sides have pros and cons that makes me hesitant to decide either way... Columbia has lower mandatory fees than Chicago but higher living cost. This would mean that I would have more room to be frugal and save some more money. Chicago has big names like Mearsheimer, Pape, and BDM. Chicago is quarter-based while Columbia is semester-based. I haven't taken any quantitative courses since AP Calculus in high school, so I think QMSS can help me greatly in that aspect of my future application. Chicago offered me partial scholarship while I don't expect much from Columbia, but after some calculations, I expect Columbia would cost about $10,000 more than Chicago. What else should I be considering? Is there anything I'm missing? What would you do if you were given these options? Any alumni from either of these programs? I would love some perspectives on this. Please and thank you!